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Canada got the last hurrah at the Celebration of Light Saturday evening, closing the three-night event with a winning display. Canada was declared the winner of the event, with Brazil and China finishing second and third, respectively.

Vancouver food vendors take it to the streets (with video)

Armies of street food vendors expected at local summer festivals

Sarb Mund (quoted in story), of Soho Road Naan Kebab and treasurer of the Street Food association in Vancouver serves up tandoori food in Vancouver

Photograph by: GLENN BAGLO
, PROVINCE

In the beginning, street food groupies went into border collie mode, chasing around and rounding up their favourite street food vendors.

Now, for those impassioned folks, there’s an excellent app (Street Food Vancouver) that lists vendors, their locations, when they’re open, and the kind food they sell. Or they can stalk favourites on Facebook or Twitter. Visitors to the city can book a street food tour in the name of efficiency.

If you’re more relaxed about food cart serendipities, the Food Cart Fest is the answer. No need to wear out the treads in your Keds. In its second year, the festival rounds up the ‘best of the best.’ Last year, it was at the Waldorf Hotel parking lot but we know what went down at that venue. (Sold to a developer.)

Good thing food cart and trucks come with wheels. Vendors moved the weekly event (every Sunday, June 23 to Sept. 22, noon to 6 p.m.) to 215 West 1st Ave. by the Olympic Village. There will be about 13 vendors each week, from a roster of about 30.

Johnny Wikkerink, of the newly minted Johnny’s Pops (artisanal frozen treats) will be there (his application is just being processed). He normally operates outside the Tap and Barrel at the Village. These summer events are his ticket to economic survival. His frozen bars are made from fresh, local fruits. “I’m using berries right now.” Some are straight-ahead fruit but his fine arts degree demands creations like blueberry cardamom, strawberry balsamic, apricot caramel and banana pudding.

Wikkerink, who scrapes the sky at 6-feet-9, sees it as a benefit. “I have a deep cooler. I can reach down. No one else can steal the Popsicles,” he laughed.

At the Commercial Drive Car-Free Day festival last weekend, he sold 700 Popsicles. When I phoned him the day after, he was in recovery. “I’m reeling today,” he said.

Expect street food elements at all kinds of functions over summer, from the private events (big at casual weddings and corporate events) to public.

“When food carts get together, it definitely draws a crowd,” says Sarb Mund, treasurer of the Street Food Association and owner of Soho Road Naan Kebab. (His hariali chicken kebab is my current obsession.) “It’s good for the vendors. We definitely have each other’s backs. No one else knows the pain and joys we go through. It’s kind of like a carny life. It’s cool that we have this every Sunday. People know exactly where to go.”

The 30 members of in the Street Food Association are vetted. “The association acts like an accreditation for the best of the best. If you go to an event with a roster of food trucks, lining up will be worth the wait. They’ve been vetted,” says Andy Fielding, who operates Kaboom Box and is executive director of the association.

This summer, expect posses of food trucks and carts at events like the Chinatown Night Market (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, May 17 to Sept. 8), the TD International Jazz Festival (June 21 to July 1), Vancouver Folk Music Festival (July 19 to 21), EPIC Sustainable Living Festival (July 6 and 7), and the Khatsahlano Music and Arts Festival (July 13).

Trucks and carts are roaming further afield, too. In New Westminster, the May 25 Hyack Uptown Live Street Festival featured eight food trucks. “Ideally, we always want to engage local operations but in terms of application processes and approvals, the food trucks offered cookie cutter approvals,” says Douglas Smith, executive director of the Hyack Festival Association. “They’ve already got health approvals from Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health recognizes them. Our patrons (25,000 to 30,000 at the event) were pretty responsive and the food truck people were pretty delighted at the amount of money they were able to make.”

On August 10, the New Westminster BIA will be hosting the city’s first Food Truck Festival. “Once we heard that the Waldorf was shutting down, we reached out and offered Columbia St.,” says Kendra Johnson, executive director of the New West BIA. “I put one simple phrase on our Facebook asking what people thought of a food truck festival. It went viral and we had overwhelmingly positive feedback,” she says.

Up at Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby campus, Food Truck Thursday has become a tradition. Vendors set up beside the Sustainable Learning Garden near Convocation Mall, offering an alternative to the cafes on campus.

“Pretty much every festival that’s happening now, you’re going to find some food trucks,” says Fielding. “Event organizers recognize food trucks bring great cache. They bring higher quality food and a sense of fun. There’s still novelty to it and it creates a buzz that wouldn’t exist.”

The Street Food Association sets guidelines for organizer fees. “Before, people had no idea how much money we make. Some wanted 20 per cent of our sales. That’s a ridiculous request,” says Fielding. “We say, nothing over 10 per cent to event organizers if they want the best of the best. It’s not fair that we have to raise prices or cut into our own sales. Our margins are thin.”

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